


Happy Birthday, D.

by softywolf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Middle-Aged!Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-25 13:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18575212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softywolf/pseuds/softywolf
Summary: Derek Hale is middle-aged. That's it. That's the whole fic.





	Happy Birthday, D.

            On Derek Hale’s 43rd birthday, the sun was bright and warm in the sun and there was a steady breeze causing the trees around his house to sway. He woke up to his russian blue cat, Nadia, pressing her cold nose against his cheek. His eyes opened into slits as he petted her, cold hands pressed against her warm, grey fur. His other cat, a white tabby cat named Lena, mewled from the doorway just like every morning when she was ready to be fed. Derek yawned and pushed Nadia away so he could climb out of bed.

            Derek slipped his bare feet into his dark blue house shoes before heading out into the hallway. When he flicked the switch, the bathroom light flickered before burning steadily - he mentally added light bulbs to his shopping list. After taking a piss, he washed his hands and brushed his teeth, staring at his reflection as he did so. It was taking some time to get used to the way he looked now with grey hair just around his temples and salt and pepper stubble across his chin. The laugh lines around his eyes and mouth were still a surprise, even after years of seeing them on his own face.

            Lena and Nadia were circling his legs, making annoyed sounds at him. He looked down at them, frowning for a moment, before he smiled fondly. Sometimes they reminded him of his sisters and his mother, impatient and bossy and reluctantly affectionate.

            He went about his normal morning routine - filling the cats’ bowls, turning on the small television on the kitchen counter, and preparing breakfast. He fried bacon and eggs, mixed up homemade buttermilk biscuits and gravy, and squeezed some fresh orange juice into a glass. 

            By the time he was done eating, a balding man was standing in front of a map of northern California on the television droning on about the weather. Apparently, the weather was going to continue to be absolutely perfect.

            As Derek stripped out of his sweat pants and threadbare Beacon Hills PD t-shirt, he hummed softly under his breath, a tune he’d heard on the radio a few days ago and hadn’t been able to get out of his head. He tugged a pair of jeans up over his legs and a plain white V-neck on over his head. He added a soft blue button up and a pair of black socks with a whole on each of the heels.

            Nadia watched through barely open eyes from her perch atop the television stand as Derek pulled a pair of black converse on, grabbed his phone, wallet and keys and closed the door behind him.

            The black Nissan Altima he bought around a few years before was sitting in a bright patch of sun in his driveway. He had researched for a week before he chose the car, picking based on safety ratings because he was somehow always roped into watching the pack’s children - especially Scott and Kira’s daughters. He had only just gotten rid of the car seat in the back because the youngest of them all was now old enough to do without.

            The leather of the driver’s seat squeaked as Derek slid across it. He adjusted his mirrors before turning the car on, the low rumble of the engine matching the pleased rumble in his throat. After turning the rdio on, he backed slowly out of the driveway and headed into town.

            Nearly every time he stopped at a light, someone waved at him. There was the old lady who lived on the same street as Erica and Boyd and couldn’t seem to keep her cat from climbing the tree in her front yard and the couple who owned the bakery on 5th. There were deputies, librarians and cashiers. All people he’d all met over the past few years as he made a better life for himself, and all of them he found he had come to care about.

            Derek circled the parking lot of the grocery store twice before he found a spot, one that someone had just backed out of, close to the entrance. He tossed his keys from hand to hand, whistling as he went inside. It was relatively easy to gather everything from the list he’d been compiling in his head for days, as he moved from aisle to aisle and filled his cart with items. When he approached the baked goods, he spent several moments considering the single packaged cupcakes until deciding on a chocolate one with cheesecake flavored filling and thick white icing.

            "Happy Birthday, Mr. Hale," the young girl at the cash register said with a smile as she started to ring his items up.

            "Thank you," Derek told her, flipping his wallet open and pulling out his credit card. His cheeks filled with heat as he smiled at her. He still wasn’t used to people being nice to him, accepting him into the community. It had taken him several years to accept that Scott wanted him in his pack, that the pack wanted him around.

            As he packed his bags away into his trunk, Derek felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He waited until the cart was returned before he dug it out and unlocked it. The corners of his lips turned up involuntarily as he read the message he’d received.

             _From: Stiles  
              Happy Birthday, D. How’s it feel to be a year closer to 50?_

            Derek felt surprisingly okay with it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading y'all! I'm going through my harddrive and I've found a bunch of fic that I never posted. Whoops. They are probably not very good but I thought I'd share them anyway.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at either [my fandom blog](http://www.theminorarcana.tumblr.com/) or [my book blog](http://www.wildhoneyandbooks.tumblr.com/).


End file.
